With 47 seconds left in the game against the [autotag]Kansas Jayhawks[/autotag] this past Saturday, [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag] trotted onto the field with the Oklahoma Sooners down five. Gabriel, a Heisman candidate, had only attempted 13 passes up to that point in the game.
The question now was if Gabriel could lead another miraculous comeback like he had earlier in the season. This drive wouldn’t go like the one in the [autotag]Cotton Bowl[/autotag].
Gabriel ended up going 3 of 6 on the drive for 62 yards. A holding penalty on the first play of the drive, set them back from the jump. The Sooners would need to go 85 yards to win the game. Gabriel gave them a shot, but the mini-hail mary couldn’t get the Sooners into the end zone. Immediately following the game, questions surrounded the game plan.
Gabriel talked to reporters after practice this week about his confidence level on that final drive of the game. “I knew we had a shot,” Gabriel said. “Whenever you have a chance, that’s all you really need to make something happen. I felt we had a good chance at getting down there. Just ultimately couldn’t finish.”
Going into that final drive, Gabriel had completed only four passes that gained more than 10 yards. That lack of aggression has been called into question, even addressed by [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag].
“Score from afar” is the motto [autotag]Jeff Lebby[/autotag] has talked about, but the Sooners looked more like a team content with “three yards and a cloud of dust.” The Kansas defensive backs were almost daring OU to take deep shots, yet the Sooners refused to do so.
It’s that kind of game plan that gets you beat and, if not corrected, will get you beat more than once this season. This week against an Oklahoma State defense that ranks 92nd in the nation in passing yards allowed but is 33rd in completion percentage allowed, the Sooners need to find more balance in their offense than they had a week ago. Namely, they need to let their quarterback have a hand in the outcome unlike last week.
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